Low Cost Dynamic Tire Balancing with Airsoft Pellets

[Seanz0rz]

First attempt doing one of these on a tablet, so here goes...

Sick of having the steering wheel ripped from my hands on the highway, I looked into different methods to balance my tires. I had heard of using numerous commercially available products specifically designed for this task, as well as people using airsoft bb, brass bb, etc.

I decided to go with airsoft pellets. They are inexpensive ($14/10000, or 5 tires worth for me), shouldn't make much noise, and are relatively easy to install.

Here is the procedure:

Weigh out the specific amount you need. Google is your friend here, but between 6 and 10 ounces seems like the range I see most often. For my 285/75R16, 8 ounces was recommended. Use a scale, this one is a shipping scale, and is generally +/- 0.1 ounce. Close enough for me. Put baggies in a cup, zero the scale, and add until you reach your goal. Repeat for each tire. For me, 10000 pellets was just enough to do 5 tires. A baggie for each tire makes it very convenient.
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3703/12449285254_9f58b193cb_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/98550067@N07/12449285254/)

Remove wheel and tire from vehicle.

Remove valve core. Be careful, it under pressure and will fly out. Use this special tool, available at any auto parts store, to remove it and replace it later. If you don't have the tool, you can use a deflator, but leave it on the valve stem for the next steps. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7329/12448777085_4a844cda9e_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/98550067@N07/12448777085/)

Place the tire flat on the ground, I prefer having the outside down, so the hilift will not mar the visible side. This part takes a bit of work. Place the tire under a bumper or slider with the hilift base as close to the rim as possible. Use the weight of the vehicle to push down on the tire. You will hear air escaping from the valve. When no more progress is observed, lower the jack, turn the tire 1/3 turn and repeat. Soon, the bead of the tire will pop off the wheel. Jumping on the tire can help here too.

Once you break the bead, pull the tire out, kneel down on the tire to press the bead into the wheel cavity, and empty your bag into the tire. Make sure all the pellets get inside. Also take the chance to remove any existing wheel weights.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7460/12448918803_a4c4746fbd_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/98550067@N07/12448918803/)

To reseat the bead, you will need a lot of air at once. There are a few techniques to accomplish the same thing, here's what I used:

Reinstall the valve core. With your air source ready, preferably with a clip on chuck, spray the bead and wheel with soapy water. This will help it slide on. Attach the air supply. The tire should be inflating and sealing the bead. If not, shake the tire and wheel, and it should catch enough to start sealing. There will be at least one pop as it seats. Bring the tire up to pressure and check for leaks.
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3709/12448766725_c93e062c4e_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/98550067@N07/12448766725/)

Remount tire.
Test drive

I found my vibrations to be greatly reduced. 55-60 still has some, but 65 + is very nice. I can actually feel the tire tread now! Overall, a win.

[Good Times]

cool!

[troyboy162]

I hope you keep this updated. I'd love to run those Instead of weights

[Seanz0rz]

I will. I'm surprised how well they work actually. It is a lot of work to pop the bead, but I think it will be worth it in the long run.

[Robinhood4x4]

My friend did this with his 38" swampers. He seemed to like it.

[paddlenbike]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq263AYgyYg

[Seanz0rz]

Thanks Ken.

I think the only improvement would be using a denser bead to better concentrate the mass where it needs to be. My tires are pretty wide (~11.5"), so I imagine they go pretty much where needed.

Also, I learned a lot about how to pop the bead. Next will be to get some tire levers and practice dismounting/mounting, especially for replacing valve stems. I have my old spare wheel and tire to try it on, and I will probably lever on an extra full size spare, just to have.

[paddlenbike]

I have no experience with using beads but I know truckers use them, so obviously they work for large tires.

I had to laugh when I read your description on how to unseat the bead on the tires. A few months ago when bought my Sequoia wheels, I shoved the wheel and tire under the truck and used a jack against the sliders to unseat the bead for painting the wheels. I thought what I was doing was totally sketch; glad I'm not the only one that does stuff like this!

Luckily we don't have TPMS, but it sounds like balancing beads don't play nice with them. Both of our new cars have TPMS and NO spare tire at all. They come with an air compressor and a can of goo. On the Acura, the tire sealant is specially formulated to not destroy the TPMS sensors, but not so much on our Nissan Leaf and many other cars. And they call this "moving forward?"

[Seanz0rz]

I have a couple of thoughts about the "no spare" trend.

For 90% of people, they never travel outside of cell coverage. Even for me, if I have a flat in the 4Runner, and don't have to be somewhere, I will have it towed home so I can fix it myself. If I need to be some where, then they can change it. That is why I pay $75/year for AAA. I also would rather destroy a tire and wheel than stop in a sketchy place on the freeway. I have nothing against changing my own tire, but I rather not on a busy interstate, especially when I have already paid someone else to do it. So this works most of the time.

For those trips down state highways or other back roads that have no cell coverage, I think you should add a couple things to the "compressor and goo" tool kit. Some tire plugs and insertion tools are a good idea. Also a can or two of fix a flat. It may destroy the TPMS sensor, but who cares when it is the difference of spending the night on the side of the road or actually getting to where you were going.

In the Nissan Z32, the spare donut is actually flat, with the tire folded in some sort of weird origami, to fit into the car. There is a compressor to fill it up. So strange...

I just had another thought. In the event of a blow out, it will be hilarious to see all of the pellets explode from the tire! And then instantly terrifying.

[paddlenbike]

For the Acura, I agree, I should throw in a tire repair kit. For the Leaf...I will never be very far from home, haha!!

If those beads blow out on the freeway, there are going to be cars on marbles all around you...

[YotaFun]

Luckily we don't have TPMS, but it sounds like balancing beads don't play nice with them. Both of our new cars have TPMS and NO spare tire at all. They come with an air compressor and a can of goo. On the Acura, the tire sealant is specially formulated to not destroy the TPMS sensors, but not so much on our Nissan Leaf and many other cars. And they call this "moving forward?"

I have seen this trend as well on all the used cars I have been inspecting.
I don't like the idea at all. If I get a new car, unless its a high end car), I will be fitting a full size spare in the truck, even if it means I loose a little cargo area.
TPMS are not cheap for the part alone, then depending on the company you also have to have the dealer program the new one in.
I didn't know there was a can of the goo that doesn't destroy the sensor, that would be good but the goo in general can ruin a tire or rim for that matter.
I remember a customer came in, they put two cans of that gunk in the tire. well it went everywhere, and the stuff that actually landed on the rim hardened pretty good, and was a pain to clean off.
You guys aren't techs so you don't have to worry about the dirty part, but I personally am not a fan of that stuff.

I agree with Sean here, If you can get a good tire plug kit go with that option, cause 9 times out of 10 its a nail that gave you the flat and not a cut in the side wall, which the goo wouldn't be able to close up anyway.


That is why I pay $75/year for AAA. I also would rather destroy a tire and wheel than stop in a sketchy place on the freeway. I have nothing against changing my own tire, but I rather not on a busy interstate, especially when I have already paid someone else to do it. So this works most of the time.

For those trips down state highways or other back roads that have no cell coverage, I think you should add a couple things to the "compressor and goo" tool kit. Some tire plugs and insertion tools are a good idea. Also a can or two of fix a flat. It may destroy the TPMS sensor, but who cares when it is the difference of spending the night on the side of the road or actually getting to where you were going.

AAA is a great thing to have, I don't have it though -_-
I agree with you on not changing the tire on the side of a busy high way, unfortunately my last experience with a flat on the 4Runner left me just that, and on the fast lane side of the highway as well, can I tell you how scary it is to change a flat on a lifted truck as tractor trailers blow by you at 70+ miles an hour, oh and its starting to snow -_-

Companies I think are smart in adding the goo to benefit themselves as well, I mean come on, instant need of new sensor right there right off the bat, then again the general public has no idea how to put a tire plug in, or let alone change there own tire anymore so I guess its a catch-22.


I look forward to further reports on how well the beads work, I am def thinking this is going to be a project in the spring time to try out.
The TRD rims I have for some reason just don't like holding on to the weights as well as I thought would, for the first few months I had them, I actually traced where the weights were on the rim and carried spares with me.
After a long trip if I saw some were missing I would hammer on new ones -_- yes I am that particular about balanced tires it drives me up the wall!

[CJM]

^ I went to sticky weights on the inside and regular weights on the inside of the wheel lip cause the weights kept falling off and looked ugly on the mickey thompsons you sold me Avy. They ride sooo smooth.

[Seanz0rz]

On one of my wheels, it was very apparent that I was missing at least one weight, maybe two.

Stick on weights will not clear my brake caliper. That's the amount of clearance I have...

[YotaFun]

^ I went to sticky weights on the inside and regular weights on the inside of the wheel lip cause the weights kept falling off and looked ugly on the mickey thompsons you sold me Avy. They ride sooo smooth.

Even the sticky weights kept falling off too, and I made sure that rim was clean as a whistle before I stuck the weights on.

[troyboy162]

Any downfalls so far? I hear the tires take a few mph to get balanced from a stop. Is that noticable?

my tires get abused and i'd bet are never perfectly balanced. if these do a 90% job then they'd be better then a 100% initial balance over the life of the tires.

[CJM]

Even the sticky weights kept falling off too, and I made sure that rim was clean as a whistle before I stuck the weights on.

That sucks man, maybe the airsoft pellets would be best in your situation. Or perhaps superglue on the weights?

[Seanz0rz]

Troy, didn't drive today. Actually, I don't drive much at all anymore. No where to go when broke and unemployed!

From my test drive, I never noticed any vibes under 45. I don't think the tires are spinning fast enough to really cause any vibrations to transfer to the vehicle. Also, I noticed bumpy roads would sort of cause a redistributing of the beads and smooth out a previous vibration, or cause a temporary increase in vibration followed immediately by it smoothing out.

It is definitely a dynamic experience. I suspect if you were not paying attention to it, you would never notice.

[Robinhood4x4]

I think the only improvement would be using a denser bead to better concentrate the mass where it needs to be. My tires are pretty wide (~11.5"), so I imagine they go pretty much where needed.

Whatever you do, I don't recommend you use lead shot. We tried that with a vibration test on a small jet engine. Imagine filling the oil reservoir of a non running engine with lead and then shaking the bejesus out of it on a giant shaker table for 12 hours. When it was taken out for dissassembly and inspection, Safety was called, hazmat was called, the whole room went on lock down and everything had to be cleaned. It was pretty funny for us.

[Seanz0rz]

They sell 0.25gram Airsoft pellets, about twice as dense as standard (0.12g). More expensive, of course.

[paddlenbike]

We tried that with a vibration test on a small jet engine. Imagine filling the oil reservoir of a non running engine with lead and then shaking the bejesus out of it on a giant shaker table for 12 hours. When it was taken out for dissassembly and inspection, Safety was called, hazmat was called, the whole room went on lock down and everything had to be cleaned. It was pretty funny for us.

I need a new job, or a jet engine at home to experiment with. That flat sounds fun.

[Seanz0rz]

Drove it today, ran errands. Never over 45 mph but truck felt fine!

[Seanz0rz]

Drove about 140 miles today through high speed freeway, medium speed highway, slow speed twisty roads, and everything in between. Here are my observations:

It's good about 75% of the time.

Freeway (60+) is OK, but sometimes isn't. Every so often, it get out of rhythm and the truck shakes pretty good. Definitely a wheel out of balance sort of shake. Then you hit a bump, and it gets better.

Highway (45-60) is less OK. I get some bad vibes, and then it goes away, much like the freeway, but more often and for longer periods.

under 45 and you notice basically nothing.

So here are my thoughts:
I need a little bit more than 8 ounces. Probably more like 9.

The slow speed stuff (under 45) never causes enough of a vibration to notice the imbalance in the tires.

at 60+, the wheel is spinning fast enough to keep the .12g pellets on the outside of the tire. Sometimes they move to the wrong spot, but will move back quickly enough, seems par for the course for these things.

At the 45-60 range, I think what is happening is the centrifugal force is not quite enough to keep all the pellets where they need to be. Any bump and they move substantially.

I predict my solution will be to go to heavier pellets, but I really need to look into that to make sure that is what needs to happen.

[troyboy162]

Interesting findings. This is the first detailed account of what happens that I've seen.

[Seanz0rz]

I couldn't find any either. In my research, I found the commercially available products are very dense, so I think the airsoft beads are too light.

[troyboy162]

get it all sorted out lol! Jmoney and I are eyeballing some steel bead locks and using airsoft for the balance like you are. without balancing I'd never have to go to the tire store again.

[paddlenbike]

I couldn't find any either. In my research, I found the commercially available products are very dense, so I think the airsoft beads are too light.

Commercial applications include heavier tires, so I thought the airsoft idea was a good one for consumer use.

[Seanz0rz]

Even for passenger car tires, they use a very dense ceramic bead.

I don't have the cash and time and energy and desire to go pull mine out and replace with something that is twice as dense. I MIGHT add an ounce to each tire of the heavier stuff, see if that works. Really, I am content with what I have for the time being. As I drive more, I may change my mind.

Sucks being the guinea pig sometimes.

I also managed to shear off the winch rope bolt today (not sure how the hell I did that...) so that is a higher priority to fix.

[4x4mike]

Why does your 4Runner vibrate so much? Are you sure it's at the wheels?

My last vehicle was a full sized truck with steel rims and 285 BFG AT's. I went through two sets of those tires on the truck and I never had a problem with balancing and/or vibration. I cracked a stock aluminum rim jumping the truck so I had the mock-lock style rim with a reinforced ring at the outside of the rim. This prevented any weights from being mounted to the outside and still it rode really smooth.

I'm not sure if these guys, http://centramatic.com/Home.aspx, have something that will fit our vehicles but it might be something to look into. I think it's on Expo where some pickup guys are running these with great results.

I know you replace a lot of front end parts a few years ago but what about other components of your truck? Joints? Steering rack, etc?

[4x4mike]

I couldn't find any either. In my research, I found the commercially available products are very dense, so I think the airsoft beads are too light.

I'm sure you've seen it in your research but I've seen racquet and golf balls used.

[Seanz0rz]

I thought it was tie rod ends, but I replaced those with no change in vibration. Ball joints and bushings are 5 or so years old now, and appear to be in good condition. Shocks are ok, but it was going on when they were new too. I've always suspected the wheels of being bent or something, but tire shops have never said anything.

When I rebuilt my half shafts, I forgot to mark the tripods, so they might be out of balance now, but again, this was happening long before that.

I've heard of the golf balls being used, but to me they would make far too much noise.

I know hard core rock crawlers will put water in their tires to lower their CG. I wonder how it would work for balancing? I wouldn't do it with my steel wheels, but maybe with some aluminum wheels.

[troyboy162]

Any updates? Ive got beadlocks, tires and .43g pellets on the way. I'm hoping 7 oz of the heavy stuff will be enough per tire. I figure adding more wont be horrible with the beadlock.

.43g cheapest I could find was here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007PNZWXK/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Seanz0rz]

I almost drove off the road on the way to Mojave to make the shaking stop. I don't feel it is due to the airsoft though, as that shake has been there for a while but is getting worse. Driving it tomorrow, I'll report back tomorrow night.

[troyboy162]

thats weird.. I know you have new tierod ends, rack bushings and new a-arm bushings. not much left upfront to wiggle you'd think.

[Seanz0rz]

Yeah. Its driving me nuts. It comes and goes as I drive too, like a harmonic resonance type vibration. Only thing I can think of is the half shafts are not balanced. I know the alignment on my drivers front tire is off, I'll fix that next week. No money for yet another alignment only for them to fail to tighten the bolts.

[Seanz0rz]

I'd also go closer to 9 or 10 ounces for your tires.

[troyboy162]

Try aligning it yourself. I've had better tire wear and handling since i started doing my own. I wont be surprized if i end up at 9-10 oz, but im going to start low first.

[Seanz0rz]

It's a steering shake more than anything. I can tell the difference between an unbalanced tire and this. Tire makes the vehicle viberate up and down. This vibration manifests itself as a side to side vibe in the steering wheel. I'll start a new thread about it soon.

[troyboy162]

Well I took my first drive with the pellets last night. They sure do behave funny. I've gone up to 70 shake free, but its not always on point lol. One run up to 65 had some shake. I tapped the brakes and all was well lol. I think thst one was funny since they set into position during a sweeping accelerating corner. The load C tires are smooth anyhow so I think that cut some translation of road vibrations. Overall if they continue to provide this amount of ballence then I'll be far ahead of the game over my usual tire abuse and rare balance visits.

I have 7.4 ounces in each tire(480ish pellets). That's just the number that dividing the bottle up equally gave me. I'm a little concerned about the durability of the pellets I chose. If you hit one with a hammer at a speed you'd expect to oval out a plastic sphere, these pellets actually crush and split. Normal pellets are just plastic. These appear to be a powder bonded together with something. Life for the pellets is kinda rough inside the wheel so I will monitor any changes in balance in fear that they are disintegrating. I went with these pellets since they are 4 times the weight of the average pellet. I assumed that would be desirable to make the balance more accurate. That all goes out the window if they don't last. Typical .12 gram pellets have reports of zero degradation after 100k miles of use.

[Seanz0rz]

Mine (standard .12g) came out perfect after the miles I put on them.

They sure do work funny. The smoother the road the more out of balance the tire would be. I was aiming for bots dots on some roads to redistribute them.

[troyboy162]

haha yes I know what you mean. A small bump makes them right as rain again. Its hard to describe what its like driving with them since its completely transparent for the most part and a perfectly balanced tire isnt memorable. Every once and a great while you will feel a wobble. Its gone just as you realize its there by either a bump, change in speed, or direction.

[Seanz0rz]

Right now I have a vibe at 65. Gone at 70. Sorta curious if the beads would smooth it out.

[Seanz0rz]

RE DIY alignments, do you have a guide you use? I have the FSM but it's a bit over my ability. I might even go get a digital level to figure out camber angles.

[troyboy162]

At first I used to take measure on the leading and trailing edge of the front tires to measure toe. I also used a string from the back tire pulled tight across the front tires. Since then Ive gotten lazy and just eyeballed it. I drive on a flat area and drive straight. Then pull the Ebrake to come to a slow stop without any nose dive. I get out and eyeball the two tires and take into acount any tendancy of the truck to not track straight. Then make adjustments. Toe is sorta hard to eyeball, but I'm shooting for neutral toe and that gives a certain feel in the steering wheel. camber is very easy to eyeball, but you can use a make shift plum bob if needed.

I know that sounds really ghetto, but my tire wear and handling have both improved alot over the $70 wham bam thank you ma'am alightment jobs I was getting. Not to mention I can fix any alignment issues I get from playing with the coilovers as often as I have.

[Seanz0rz]

Thanks. Might give that a try tomorrow. I'm sick of blowing nearly 100 and having them not tighten down the bolts...

[troyboy162]

It took me at ~3 hours to do my first one since it was way out, but if you are close I bet you can do it pretty fast. I bet you will find they gave you shit tons of toe in. I think a good amount of toe in and caster makes any vehicle track straight and that's all anyone notices.

[Seanz0rz]

Left tire is close, right is not. I'd spend a few hours to get it straight.

[YotaFun]

Interesting to see what else you guys come up with on the DIY alignment.

I fortunately have access to a rack if I wanted, but last time I got the truck aligned through my new job (can't work on your own cars in the shop...) and they did a great job, putting all angles back into spec.

A lot of shop if it requires cam adjustments will usually avoid doing the alignment right and just try to get toe into spec and go, whether the cams are frozen (common problem here on the east coast, I replaced my lower arms and put new eccentrics in with marine grade grease and they haven't frozen yet!) or the tech just does not know how to do it, and honestly with the new alignment machines out there, this shouldn't be an issue, new machines practically walk through the procedures step by step with picture and video directions, and do everything short of turning the actual wrench to make the alignment.

Troy I am not sure how much guys toe in, I actually adjust the toe a little out off of dead on, I learned quickly with toe in a little customers complaining about the steering being touchy going down the road, usually with toe in the steering gets a little more finicky, if that makes any sense.

[troyboy162]

how far are you lifted in the front? I also wonder if factory specs are appropriate when the A-arms are jacked up high and the truck has body roll. I mean when the A-arms move the steering is effected somewhat. I would suspect that affect is greater the further away from the stock horizontal plane of the arms. In long travel this is called bump steer since body roll steering isnt there main concern lol. Both of the last two alignments I payed for left me with a truck that I would have to countersteer after the body rolled.

[Seanz0rz]

Mine does that now. I think in part due to the worn out shocks, but i have to jerk the truck in the opposite direction to get it to sit level. Floppy trucks are fun!

[troyboy162]

Just removed the airsoft beads from the rear tires. They used a extreme amount of lead to balance them. I'm sure adding more beads could have gotten me balanced but it would have been a shot in the dark on how much to use.